Mighty oaks from little acorns grow

Today my son has made my world a better place to live. Something wonderful he started a few months ago has finally come into fruition. It all started last fall when the children in his daycare went for a walk. He told his teacher that he wanted to plant a tree "to make people happy". He followed through with this desire by writing a letter to the Mayor (translated from scribbles by his amazing daycare teacher) stating his wish. The teacher took the children to the Mayor's office and my son handed in the letter. His wish was granted and today the children from his daycare went to plant 31 trees in the park. He was very excited

Don't be fooled by the picture directly above, I ended up digging because the ground was too hard for him. His teacher took over when I got tired. (It's hard to dig in heels =)

He got to choose a the type of tree that he planted. He choose a red oak. One day his little plant will grow to look like this:

As he watered the plant a strange feeling came over me -  This tree will be here long after the hands that put it into the ground are gone. Look at that - four years old, and he already has a legacy!

Twins birthday

My sister has twins. They turned five this week. My children love them so of course their birthday is a big deal. This year my sister was smart and hosted it in a play center. Best idea ever - for the first time ever, the adults were able to enjoy themselves at a kiddie birthday party. Here is my daughter doing an impression of snow white.

Here is my son all kitted out as a pirate, complete with a blue balloon sword. There was much swashbuckling taking place!


I ate so much cake, I think I've gained back all the weight I've lost this week!

Sublime Saturday

Today was a busy day. When I woke up something unusual happened to me. My body was craving a run! I had to throw on my track pants, put on my running shoes and head out if the door. I got my neighbor out of bed to join me and the two of us hit the road. After about 5 minutes of jogging my body wanted to crawl back into bed but thank god my neighbor was there to keep me going! After 15 minutes our jog turned into a walk,and shortly thereafter that it turned into a shopping excursion. We encountered five separate garage sales and I scored a great little bike for my son. Meet the newest member of my neighborhood biker gang!

When we got home, I quickly packed our bags and headed over to my aunt's house for a lunch. After stuffing ourselves on her amazing cooking, we went over to my sister in laws house for a belated birthday BBQ for my husband. It was a tiring but fun day!

Lovely Birthday

My husband outdid himself on my birthday this year so of course I had to pull out all the stops for his special day. It started last night, on the eve of his birthday. My neighbor and I biked to the local supermarket to pick up a cake. (I don't drive at the moment so if I want to surprise my husband with a cake, I have to use an alternate means of transport to get it.) We picked up a lemon poppy bundt cake, the only cake that would survive the arduous bike ride home. It also boasted the lowest calories per serving. (Bonus!)
I lit a tea light candle and called him down around midnight for his cake. It was so yummy!

Then today I gave him his present. This watch. Note to my sister - if you are reading this, yes my husband is very worried that you will accuse him of copying you. Also my husband may exchange this watch for another one because as much as he likes it, he is not sure if it a little feminine. (FYI - the lady at the store reassured me that it is a men's watch.)

Next I stealthily arranged for the babysitter to come and took him out for dinner at Gozen.


















After dinner I took him to watch Legends in the making, a stand up comedy show with some up and coming Canadian comedians. It was being held at the Wolf Performance hall which is attached to the central library. Since I hadn't told my husband what we were going to watch, he thought I had brought him to a book reading or something equally nerdy. He resisted big time and was trying to convince me to take him to Men in Black 3 instead. I held fast though and in the end got him inside the theatre. We were the first people to show up and were directed to sit right in the middle of the front row.



















It was hilarious and we got a lot of interaction with the comedians. The mc couldn't get over my name, he thought it was so exotic! I would highly recommend this show - for those of you in Toronto - there is a show in the 14th of June at the Lawrence Center. If you are looking for a good laugh you should go!

Round and round the garden

I bumped into a friend from work when I went to collect my daughter from daycare. Her daughter is in the same room as mine She and I were exchanging mommy stories when our two little girls decided to chase each other around a tree. I had to take pictures, they looked so cute! Children have this capacity to find joy in the most mundane of settings. I need to learn how to do that again.

My heart hurts

I found out this morning that my son is being bullied at school. Two of the boys in his class hit him, spit at him and destroy crafts that he makes in class. He has been crying in his sleep and not telling me why. It finally came out this morning over his bowl of porridge that this is what is bothering him. I asked him if he has told his teacher and he told me that it is pretty hard to talk to his teacher once class has started. In the end I know that telling the teacher is only a band aid solution. No one likes a tattle tale right? So I also told him that next time these boys bother him, that he should very loudly tell them to stop it or behave themselves. This made my son more upset. He says that his teacher really doesn't like it when he speaks loudly. He agreed to tell them softly. I sent my son to school this morning with nothing more than two phrases as protection against being bullied. I feel  helpless and my heart aches.

Update: I just spoke with my son's teacher. She read the note I sent in with him and spoke to him about it. She let him know that he can approach her any time something like this happens and also she let me know that she has spoken to the boys in question as well. She also told the other teachers that are in the classroom what is going on and they will be keeping a close eye on the situation to make sure this type of behaviour does not happen again. The one thing she said that made me happy is that my son is doing very well right now and she would hate for his progress to be derailed so she is going to do her best to prevent the bullying from happening again. I am very comforted by her sincerity.

Neighborhood bike gang

I'm part of a biker gang now. Don't be shocked - I have a wild side! We went for a ride all over the neighborhood. It felt great to have the wind blowing in our faces. Here is a picture of us after our ride.

Ok maybe it doesn't look as cool as it sounds, but it was so much fun! 

Era of clips

By god's grace, our little girl has been growing in leaps and bounds lately. Not only physically, but also maturing in her speech and mannerisms. She is literally blossoming in front of our eyes. My favorite development - she finally keeps clips in her hair!

Bengali comfort food!

What is yellow, lumpy and oh so yummy?

Here's a clue

It's fish curry with lentils and served with rice it's do warm and satisfying! Can't wait to eat it all up!

Reflections

As soon as I walked in this morning I received an email from a senior individual at my workplace which contained some positive feedback. This has put me in a reflective mood. I felt the need to write how I feel.

Things I am grateful for today:
1. My family (children, husband, siblings, parents, cousins, in-laws, aunts and uncles) I have a lovely family.
2. My home - since the moment I first stepped through the door, it has never been a house, it's always been my home, my nest, my sanctuary.It is restful and clean and beautiful and there are places where my kids and I can play and places where I can curl up with my husband or with a good book.
3. My connection to God - I am not an overly religious person, but I do believe in god and am immensely grateful for all the gifts I have received. I am happy that I have found a way to connect and that I feel I can find myself in god's grace when I am in need of it.
4. My job - this particular position that I am currently in is challenging - extremely so - but what I've learnt is that you get out what you put in and so far I've been giving it my all and feeling that is it recognised.


Things that I have learnt today:
1.You never stop being a parent - something I am learning from watching a co-worker who has grown up children.
2. Friends come and go and you'll never know when or where a new one will pop-up from or how or why an old one will fall out of your life.
3. You should let go of thoughts that aren't useful in the moment that you are living in now - worrying is not even minutely productive.

Happy Mother's Day

You may be wondering why I have posted a picture of a dead fly in my blog this morning.

 Well this it is a "present" from my son. He was so excited about it that he carried it from the window sill where he found it all the way to my bed to show me. Ewwwww! It's not really his mother's day present for me. He gave me these flowers from school.

He gave them to me on Friday as he was to eager to wait until Sunday.
My daughter also gave me flowers. I received these on Thursday.

 Aren't they pretty. The other thing I got for mother's days is a bike! I used to cycle a lot when I was a kid and have wanted one forever. I saw one at a garage sale yesterday that my husband wouldn't let me purchase.....because he wanted to get me one for mother's day! He's so thoughtful!

Update Tues. May 15th: I just found my son's mother's day card. Awwww I feel special even though it's not mother's day any more!

True love

I don't know what animals feel for each other, if they know what it means to love another creature- but then I come across something like this and there is no doubt in my mind that they are capable of deep feeling. The girl duck was limping, so she ended up sitting down in a puddle on the side walk in a strip mall. The male duck valiantly sat down beside her and kept guard, wary of all the people around, but yet not leaving the side of his mate. Coincidentally they are resting in front of a Chinese restaurant advertising Peking duck as their special for the day. Oh dear!

New girlfriends

So my son and I befriended a little boy and his mom at mommy class three years ago. The boys were three months at the time and over the years they have developed a wonderful friendship.

I was beyond happy when I found out that my friend was pregnant when I was carrying my daughter. We both were having girls! We thought it was perfect - they would be good friends too! But alas life is much busier with two kids and although my friend and I try to get together for play dates as often as we can, it was no where near as often as when the boys were little. Nevertheless the girls have managed to make a connection in spite of this disadvantage. Today we took the kiddies to the park, and for the first time our little girls really got to enjoy each other's company.
Peek a Boo!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

Here are the four of them squished together on a small bench.

The kids saw these dandelions (I can't seem to get away from these weeds) on the way home. They stopped and made a wish. Ohhhhhh the simple pleasures of childhood!

Stop and Smell the.............dandelions

I admit I have been writing a lot about dandelions lately, but in my defence, we haven't planted a garden yet and they are the only flowers that blossom in our yard. I noticed them this morning whilst I was holding a garage sale:


Since we've decided we didn't want any more children (unless they are unplanned of course) I've been trying to get rid of my baby stuff with a vengeance. I decided to participate in a neighbourhood garage sale with this purpose in mind. It was slow going. I had  lot of time to sit around an appreciate the beauty of the dewy Saturday morning. The first thing I noticed were the dandelions of course. Their days are numbered - my husband has hired a lawn care company to come and get rid of them.I decided to document them in their glory before they met their fate:


I also spent some time admiring our Japanese Maple. This is the only tree we have planted so far and I love how vivid the leaves are. Note the yellow dandelions peppering the grass in the background - there are more weeds than grass in our yard this year!

The only other thing in our front yard is a sad little planter shaped like a bench. It used to hold my orchid plants when we lived in an apartment. Last year our children used to sit on it as it was the right size for their little bottoms. This year it sits sadly warped near our front porch. The winter had ravaged the wood and the seat is now misshapen. Even so I thought it looked so sweet this morning with the little blooms of dandelions peeping out from underneath.

Wandering around Wonderland

It's been so busy at work and at home that I haven't had a chance to post about our yearly visit to Canada's Wonderland. I've been going to the Scotia Friends and family event at Wonderland for many years now. When I was young and unmarried it meant a day spent riding nausea inducing roller coasters, walking around the park until dusk and then gorging  on Chinese buffet at Mandarin. It was an exhausting day. Strangely enough, it is  ten times more exhausting to go with the young children.

The Slow Boat Ride

There was the Snoopy Space Race:

The Snoopy Vs Red Baron

Taxi Jam which is a mini roller coaster. My daughter was terrified! Another ride that scared her was Lucy's Tugboat, which surprised me since I thought my bossy girl was afraid of nothing!

Here they are on the ferris wheel with my husband and my cousin. I am the blob standing next to the double stroller, as viewed from the ferris wheel - not a flattering angle for me.

They kiddies really enjoyed the bumper cars, although neither of them could figure out how to keep them moving for very long.

The last ride of the day was a treat for my son. Last year his cousins were able to ride the Ghoster Coaster but my little picky eater was too short! He was heart broken last year so I explained to him that if he ate his food properly and slept well that he would grow. The promise of being able to ride the Ghoster Coaster has motivated him to finish his dinner consistently throughout the last year and so when the park attendant measured him this time around, he was thrilled to discover that he could go on the ride! Here he is moments before getting on the Ghoster Coaster and having the time of his life!

We ended the day with funnel cake - a pastry made out of a nest of fried dough batter topped with strawberries and a mountain of ice cream. I only ate a small portion as it literally consists of 3000 calories, but my husband ate quite a bit. For him a trip to Wonderland is incomplete without a funnel cake consumption.